Former Premier League ace names West Brom as club he’d never consider playing for
Former Aston Villa striker Gabby Agbonlahor has named West Brom as a Premier League team he would never have considered joining.
The three-cap England international spent 13 seasons at Villa Park, racking up close to 400 appearances for the club.
Agbonlahor hit double figures for Premier League goals in three successive seasons between 2007-08 and 2009-10, during which time he was often linked with a move away from Villa.
Given his allegiance to the Villans, the 37-year-old says he would never have dreamed of representing West Brom nor Wolves, while he also disliked Stoke City’s playing style.
“Obviously, West Brom, Wolves, local rivals. I disliked them a lot, I wouldn’t have played for them,” he told talkSPORT [1 November].
“Stoke annoyed me. Just their football – it was so physical, you’d go there and get beaten up on the pitch. You’d get bullied, so that was a team I never would have wanted to play for. I didn’t like the football they played.”
Shock horror
An Aston Villa stalwart not liking West Brom is hardly the biggest of revelations. Indeed, it would have been more shocking had Agbonlahor said something positive about the Baggies.
To give him his dues, scoring 74 Premier League goals is not a bad achievement… until you remember that was spread across 11 seasons in the division, prior to suffering relegation in 2015-16.
Then came a couple of underwhelming seasons in the Championship when Agbonlahor managed just two goals in 19 appearances, making it no surprise when the club did not renew his contract – thus leading to his retirement.
Not many have crossed the Aston Villa-West Brom divide – Riccardo Scimeca, James Chester, Sam Johnstone, Kevin Phillips and Liam Ridgewell to name some – and that list is unlikely to grow too much anytime soon.
It is good that the dislike is mutual, as football ultimately would not be the same without its rivalries.
In other West Brom news, a “significant” near-£1billion development that will effect the Baggies has emerged.